1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a progress indicator providing status on the execution of multiple executing operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current application programs, such as printer-software and software that includes downloading or transmittal features such as Internet browser software and e-mail clients, often include a progress indicator dialog box. Such current progress indicators display the progress for a single transmittal operation. For instance, software that monitors the progress of a print job submitted to a printer often includes a progress indicator displayed at the computer to indicate the printing status of a single print job. Internet browser programs, such as the NETSCAPE(copyright) Communicator, often include a progress indicator indicating the status of a single download operation. NETSCAPE is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation.
However, such single status display indicators do not provide complete status information if there are numerous monitored tasks executing at once, such as numerous print jobs being transmitted to a printer server or printer for printing.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, preferred embodiments disclose a progress indicator generated on a computer display. Program logic in a computer system monitors the execution of a plurality of tasks and determines progress status information for each of the executing tasks. The program logic may be used to select one of the executing tasks and display on a computer display a graphical representation of the progress status information of the selected executing task.
In further embodiments, the executing tasks have a discrete beginning and end. The progress status information indicates an amount of the task that has completed.
In yet further embodiments, the executing tasks are print jobs being transmitted to a printer server. In such case, the graphical representation of the progress status information indicates an amount of the selected print job that has completed.
In still further embodiments, progress status information is determined by maintaining an object for each executing task, wherein each object includes status information. Program logic updates the status information in the objects to indicate more recent status information on the executing tasks. Updated progress status information is then displayed in the graphical representation with the updated status information.
With preferred embodiments, a graphical representation is provided that may provide status information on instances of multiple tasks executing in the system. This is especially useful when the user or systems administrator wants to monitor multiple instances of a task executing, such as multiple submitted print jobs, multiple downloads of information, or any other multiple instances of a task that has a discrete beginning and end. Preferred embodiments provide a convenient graphical user interface to selectively access and display status information on multiple executing tasks.